Lessons of a Longsuffering Landlady
by Lemon Zinger
Summary: Sometimes, all it takes is the wise words of someone close enough to care, but far enough to see the bigger picture we neglect. A series of moments that the boys get a little advice (and the occasional whack of a ladle) from Mrs. Hudson.
1. Attitude

~Attitude~

My wound was very sore one morning about two weeks after Holmes and I had moved in together. One of his mysterious guests had showed up and I relinquished the sitting room to my companion.

I was rather down, my lack of friends or funds made it difficult to enjoy myself. I began to slowly descend the stairs, intending to go for a walk. I heard a crash and a cry from our landlady when I was standing in the landing.

"Mrs. Hudson?" I called, trying to ascertain if she needed help. I heard another bang from the kitchen and my doctor instincts forced me to go check.

She was in the kitchen, a bowl of soup splattered across the floor. She was dipping her left hand in cold water and muttering angrily to herself.

"Are you alright?" I asked, startling her.

"Oh Doctor! Oh, I'm fine. Sorry for the noise." She said sheepishly.

"You burned yourself." I said knowingly. "Let me look."

"I'm alright." She said, grabbing a rag to clean up the spill.

"I just want to check, we don't want your wound to interfere with your wonderful cooking." I said. I had dealt with difficult patients in the war and knew that flattery and calmness would usually get someone to let me fix them up.

Mrs. Hudson nodded and I went upstairs to fetch my medical bag in my room. Returning, I noticed she'd pulled out two stools for us to sit while I worked. I sat across from her, pulling out a cream and small bandages. "This shouldn't take long." I said.

She held out her left hand, revealing the burns. They weren't bad, but her fingertips were red and there was a red line across her palm. I didn't ask how it had happened- it was obvious enough. I applied the cream to help with the pain and applied a thin layer of bandages- enough to cover it, but not too much so as to hinder her movements.

"I can deduct this from your rent." She said when I finished.

"By no means, accidents happen. Besides, you gave me something to do." I said.

"Mr. Holmes stole the sitting room again, didn't he?" Mrs. Hudson inquired.

"Yes." I said, gathering up my supplies.

"You sound tired Doctor." She commented.  
"I'm just having a little trouble with my wound." I admitted.

"Doctor heal thyself." Mrs. Hudson teased.

"I'm as healed as I'm going to get." I sighed.

"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Mrs. Hudson asked.

"They kind of attitude a wounded old army surgeon has when he has nothing to do." I replied.

"You have to find something to do with yourself." Mrs. Hudson said. "Something you can do to make you feel better."

"I just don't know what that would be. Life seems so dull."

"You know, Mr. Holmes said the very same thing to me yesterday." Mrs. Hudson said. "By the way, how are the two of you getting along?"

"Fair I suppose. He's tolerable, compared to being alone." I said.

"If only you two could get to know each other better, but when he gets guests he kicks you out."

"Yes, but it doesn't bother me. I assume he's offering some sort of service to earn his keep."

"Have you given any thought to volunteering?" Mrs. Hudson asked.

"Not really, what did you have in mind?"

"Hospitals are always looking for doctors to make house calls and whatnot, why not try to occupy yourself that way?" Mrs. Hudson said. "Not very often mind you, you're still recovering, but once or twice a week to just get you out and about."

I thought about it, considering using my medical practices for something useful.

"Thanks," I said, "I'll look into it."

"You're welcome Doctor. You need to brighten up- be cheerful about the life you've been blessed with. I've always found that helping others brightens me up. The reason I keep tenants, besides for money, is because I get great joy from serving others." Mrs. Hudson explained. "You've been blessed with a gift for medicine, try tapping into that skill to begin to feel useful, and as a result, happy."

I saw the wisdom in her words and nodded. "I appreciate the advice Mrs. Hudson. I guess you're right, I need something to do."

Mrs. Hudson smiled. "Now shoo, I'll never get lunch finished with you taking up my kitchen space." She admonished. I retreated, leaving her to her chores.

"But Doctor," she called, and I turned to hear what she wanted to say. "If you ever need some advice, I'll be here."


	2. Consideration

A/N: Borrowed the beginning from Azolean with her permission. Change the POV but its the same thing. It was the PERFECT scene for this section. Her part ends at the *.

* * *

~Consideration~

As my new flatmate stumbled across the sitting room floor for the third time that day disturbing my delicate work at the chemistry table, I had finally had enough. It was annoying in the extreme that the man was in such poor shape that he could not leave the house in this early spring weather. But that the man should shuffle restlessly around the sitting room disturbing him with his boredom was just too much!

"Dr. Watson, you will cease these meaningless wanderings before you cause me to make a mistake that could kill us both!" I snapped.

Rather than feeling abashed or concerned, the doctor's green eyes flared as his wounded pride showed itself for a moment rather more fiercely than I had expected.

"My apologies, Mr. Holmes," the doctor threw back venomously. "I hadn't realized your odious experiments were also dangerous. Perhaps you would be so kind as to take into consideration that this is our sitting room."

"Ha!" I barked a laugh. "As you wish, Doctor. But if you cannot find something better to do with your time than shuffling around this room, perhaps you would be better entertained with one of those ridiculous books your always reading in your own room."

"As I said, this is my sitting room as well."

"Yes, but such a pathetically lonely individual should not forcibly inflict their presence on others. I could care less how terribly bored you are, so long as you stay out of my way. If it is companionship you are seeking, there are drinking establishments that would likely suit your temporary needs."

Having gained this understanding about his flatmate's callous opinions here in their first month of rooming together, Watson found his hands shaking as he gripped his cane tighter. In no condition for a row at this point, he simply turned and limped his way out of the sitting room.

I watched calculatingly, still trying to get a measure of the man I now roomed with that seemed to keep so much contained. I had expected some sort of outburst or show of temper. Instead, the man had quietly left. While I approved of this accommodating behavior, I could not help feeling the sense of disgust at such a ridiculously simple solution. The man had simply passed through the sitting room and was gone without even attempting to further defend his territory here in the sitting room.

Once again reminding myself what a pathetic species humans really were, I turned my attention back toward my experiments,* but only for a moment. It was a loud slam of the sitting room door coming open and I peaked around my chemistry set to find myself face-to-face with Mrs. Hudson.

Never was I ever so scared of her. Nor would I ever be so frightened again. Without showing any restraint, she firmly rapt my hand with a thick wooden ladel she had in one hand. Adding to the pain of the blow was the fact it was still hot from whatever it had been used to stir. A cry of alarm was drawn from my throat against my wishes. I was thoroughly surprised at her attack and it hurt.

"How dare you!" She cried, her voice shaking with the intensity of her rage.

"What?" I cried, completely unaware of why she was so angry.

"You are a terrible roommate for anyone, but to see the way he silently takes your abuse it just too much and I won't stand for it. You say you are a brilliant man, but only a fool takes for granted the kindness of others. The fact he is willing to go halves with you on the rooms is reason enough for you to be pleasant to him, but since that seems to have no affect on you I will say this: if you don't start showing some consideration for the doctor it will be _you_ that gets sent out into the chilly air. Do I make myself clear?"

To say that Mrs. Hudson was a gentle woman was modest, and to say that she was gracious was too simple, but I had brought out another side to her character, which was often restrained out of love.

Now I had drawn out the tiger, and one I was not keen to face.

"Mrs. Hudson I am sorry – "

"No, you are not. You don't care about him at all, but he is half the reason you even have these rooms." She snapped.

I realized she was right. I had taken my roommate a bit for granted. I wanted his money without the companionship that he might've hoped for.

"What if he isn't happy here though?" I argued. "Never has a roommate stuck long with me. Even my brother and I could not manage to stay at peace under one roof long."

"You aren't giving him any reason to be happy here." Mrs. Hudson retorted.

I looked at her sheepishly. "But what should I do?"

She scrutinized me with a suspicious gaze.

"I want to make things right." I said. Saying it seemed to make it true without me realizing it. I hadn't felt so bad before, but now that I had said it, a part of me did want to make things smoother between us. If he could deal with that outburst of mine so well, then perhaps this would work out.

"Well, you might invite him to the concert you planned to attend this evening." She said with a smirk.

"However did you know about that?" I asked, wondering where her deductions had stemmed from.

"You came back late last night and didn't bother to hang your coat so I did. And these fell out of your pocket." She held up three tickets.

I always bought three so that I might not be crowded on either side. The idea of having someone so close to me disrupted the serenity I gathered from the performance. I looked at them though and realized she was right; it would get the lonely doctor out of the house and possibly give me a chance to ask for forgiveness.

Gathering my hat and coat I dashed off, hoping I could find him.

With his injury though, he hadn't gotten very far. I caught up to him and slowly, things between us began to get better.


	3. Gratitude

Gratitude

I looked t the newspaper clippings in my hand again, staring at the numbers inscribed there. So many dead. So many injured. And why was I one of the lucky ones? Injured and sent home - away from the blood and chaos and death.  
I hadn't longed to go back in awhile. To find these newspaper clippings I had saved and stuffed inside my notebook made me want to return - to offer my life on service of my country. Much like my roommate offered his for his clients. I shuddered as I thought about the most recent of our cases together. It had nearly cost us both our lives.  
But it wasn't enough. I want to return to the soldiers' sides. I wanted to return to the blood baths happening thousands of miles away and to help the men there.  
The longing in me was severe, and I was unable to shake the desire even after several hours. I paced and mulled the idea over of trying to re-enlist. And the more I considered it the more I couldn't resist the temptation to try. After all, I had been given a year to rest and recuperate.  
I put on a nice suit and descended the stairs, trying to move normally without the injury bothering me, but the pangs returned after I landed hard on my left leg. It was enough to jar me, but it did nothing to my resolve.  
"Mrs. Hudson?" I called, unable to find my gloves.  
"Yes doctor?" She replied, coming out while wiping her hands on her apron.  
"I am going out, where are my gloves?" I asked.  
"You seem determined to brave the elements. But I am afraid they are still drying from last night." She replied.  
"I was going to the enlistment office." I explained. "How long do you suppose they will take?"  
"I have them near the fire in the kitchen, why don't you come have a seat and chat - they shouldn't be more than a half-hour."  
I smiled, ever willing to oblige Mrs. Hudson. She seemed lonely since the death of her husband and she had few friends in the city.  
"Of course."  
We went back and she offered me a seat on the stool while she moved about preparing tea and pulling out a small plate of cookies for me.  
I nibbled at them happily as she poured me some tea.  
"So you are leaving us then?" She asked.  
"I don't know that they will take me but I intend to try."  
"Life too boring for you?" She asked.  
"Hmmm?" I hummed questioningly around a mouthful.  
"The life of a detective's assistant." Mrs. Hudson specified. "Not adventurous enough?"  
"No, no, I just want to help them." I said. "Those poor soldiers are dying out there."  
"And Holmes nearly dies on dozens of his cases. And you're the only one I've heard of managing to bully him into bed when he's ailing. Goodness knows if anyone needs a doctor - "  
"Holmes can manage."  
"I daresay he can manage - manage to get himself into trouble." Mrs. Hudson said.  
I gaped at her. "Are you implying that I should play nursemaid to him?"  
"No he doesn't need a nursemaid. He needs a friend."  
I thought over her words. Besides clients, he rarely had any other visitors. "But the soldiers..."  
"Watson, did you ever consider you were meant to be sent home for that reason? To befriend a lonely consulting detective?"  
I regarded her with a look of surprise. No, the thought had never crossed my mind that I might serve a purpose here. I had never felt particularly useful or important.

"No, the thought had never crossed my mind honestly." I replied.

"Be grateful Doctor, you are one of the lucky ones." I must've made a face, because she was adamant about it. "You are. I know it doesn't always seem like it, but you are the lucky one chosen to come at this time to fill a gap in that poor devil's life."

I smiled. "I guess I never thought of it like that."

She patted my hand. "You mean a lot to him. Be grateful for your life."

I nodded. "I will." I rose to leave.

"What about your gloves?" She asked.  
"I won't be needing them after all." I replied.

She smiled and I knew she was glad of my choice, but more importantly, I was happy with it. I was at peace with myself.

On my way out I tossed the clippings into the fire.


End file.
